Jekyl and Hyde

I like Sundays at the hospital. As I walked into the building today, it was quiet - there was no security officer directing cabs and traffic with his whistle from afar, the flow of people in and out of the hospital slows to a crawl and the lines in the cafeteria are small enough that I don't feel like I'm abandoning Henry whenever I run to get a meal.

Today with Henry was easier too. I'm sure he'd finally had a decent night's rest, but moreover he, along with his parents, had begun to adjust to hospital life again and the inevitability of the duration of our visit.

We played with his trains on the floor, made a brief attempt at some crafts, watched what's become his new favorite DVD's - Max and Ruby - several times over and while he had to be coaxed into it, I did get him out of bed for a ride around the floor in his push car. Not much for physical exercise, but it's good for him to be out of that room for a while. Good for us both.

He fell asleep easily tonight after taking his medications like a champ. Ten minutes after he drifted off, the night nurse walked in with a scale to weigh him and do his vital signs. "Can we do this a little later?" I asked.

An hour passed and because he has so much fluid clearing his chemotherapy now, his diaper cannot hold his urine unless he's changed frequently. This is really upsetting to him and disrupts everyone's night. Changing him at 9 and changing him at midnight, yielded completely different episodes.

At 9, he thrashed and screamed and kicked while I did a simple diaper change. I had to hold him down to get his temperature and blood pressure, which of course gives a terrible reading to boot. At midnight, just a few minutes ago, he woke gently and allowed me to change him. I patted him for a while, he asked for a story and quietly complained that my rubbing his back was tickling him - he said this with a little giggle.

It's difficult to keep in the front of mind, but he reminded me tonight that we're all dealing with this as best we can. He's still his sweet little self, just very frustrated and mad sometimes. His acting out over the last few days is his bad mood over something that could cause any reasonable person to act irrational. We're all starting to adjust again, but, like everything, it just takes time.